Conventionally, it has been known that a pile can be knitted by a weft knitting machine having opposed front needle bed and rear needle bed between which a needle bed gap lies. For example, a knitting machine has been disclosed (refer to Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication JP-Y1 34-4254 (1959), for example) such that an auxiliary needle bed having a pile pull-out needle attached thereto is provided on an upside of one needle bed and at the time of knitting a pile fabric, a pile yarn is held on the pile pull-out needle of the auxiliary needle bed and then released from the pile pull-out needle whereby a pile loop can be formed.
Further, there is also disclosed a technique that slider members for pile knitting, instead of knitting needles, are attached to needle grooves at positions for forming pile loops on the opposed needle beds in a widely-used weft knitting machine. At the time of knitting a pile, these slider members are advanced to a needle bed gap where the pile yarn is delivered, and the pile yarn is then cut off by a cutting portion formed on a rim of the slider member so that a cut pile is formed (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,135, for example).
In the JP-Y1 34-4254 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,135, it is necessary to provide a member or other components for pile knitting only. An applicant of the present application has disclosed, however, a method in which a pile loop can be formed without such a member (refer to Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 2917146, for example). In this pile stitch forming method, a compound needle having a slider including two elastic plates each having a tongue at a top end thereof, is attached as a knitting needle to each of needle beds opposing head to head between which a needle gap lies. A hook of needle body of this compound needle is slidably pinched by the elastic plates, and is able to be opened and closed by the tongue.
A knitting needle holding a knitted loop formed of a fastening yarn and a pile yarn is raised and advanced to a knit position and subsequently, receives a new fastening yarn by the hook. When the knitting needle is lowered and retracted to pull the fastening yarn into an old loop already formed, a slider is kept at a raised and advanced position above the needle bed gap so that the old loop is not knocked over by going beyond a top end of the slider. While the old loop is held on the tongue of the slider, the fastening yarn is pulled into the old loop.
Subsequently, the knitting needle is raised and then, a pile yarn is fed to a hook of the knitting needle and a hook of a knitting needle which has been raised and advanced from an opposed needle bed toward the needle bed gap. Both of the knitting needles are then lowered and retracted from the knitting needle bed. The fastening yarn and the pile yarn are aligned together and put through the old loop by one knitting needle while the other knitting needle holds only a pile stitch formed of the pile yarn. Next, only the knitting needle holding the pile stitch is moved up and down to release the pile stitch from the knitting needle to thereby form a pile loop in a fabric being knitted by the knitting needle on the opposed needle bed.
The slider of the compound needle used in the pile stitch forming method of JP-B2 2917146 can be advanced farther to the needle bed gap than the hook of the needle body can. Such a compound needle has been developed for the purpose of effecting transfer between compound needles on opposed needle beds by use of a top end portion of a slider called a tongue or nose (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications JP-A 10-325057 (1998) and JP-A 2002-294541).
In order to use those forming methods disclosed in the JP-Y1 34-4254 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,135 in a case where the pile knitting is performed by the weft knitting machine, it is necessary to provide a member for pile knitting only. In the prior art disclosed in JP-Y1 34-4254, it is necessary to also provide an auxiliary needle bed to which the member for pile knitting only is attached, with the result that the knitting machine becomes consequently complex and expensive. In the prior art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,135, a cut pile can be formed, but it is necessary to mount a slider member, instead of a knitting needle, in a needle groove on a needle bed. In this case, it is possible to selectively perform one of normal knitting and pile knitting while both thereof cannot be performed at the same time. As a result, only a single function is provided.
In the pile stitch forming method disclosed in JP-B2 2917146, it is possible to use the member as a knitting needle in normal knitting for fabric. When the tongue of the slider is used, it is possible to perform the pile knitting by use of the compound needle which also allows transfer and knitted-loop holding. Accordingly, a pile loop can be freely formed in a fabric, and it is possible to knit various fabrics.
However, there is a need to perform operations of raising the slider so as to be advanced to the needle bed gap and closing the hook by the tongue when releasing the pile stitch from the hook of the compound needle holding only the pile stitch. In other words, not only the needle body of the compound needle, but also the slider needs to be used for forming the pile stitch. As a consequence, the compound needle for receiving the pile yarn must be used only for forming the pile stitch, and is thus not usable in such an application as holding other stitches.
In particular, in a case where fabrics are knitted respectively by front and rear needle beds and both ends of these fabrics are then connected to each other to form a tubular fabric, it is difficult to use the knitting needles on the needle beds opposed to each other between which the needle bed gap lies, for forming the pile stitch because these knitting needles are used for forming the respective fabric. If the pile stitch can be formed while the fabrics are held, it becomes possible to easily knit the tubular pile.